Riccicliamo: collagen-based biomaterials from sea urchin waste for biomedical applictions

Sea urchins are fundamental players of marine ecosystems and some species (i.e. Paracentrotus lividus) are highly appreciated food resources. However the edible part (the gonads) represents a minimal fraction of the animal while the majority is discharged as waste. In line with the principles of Circular Economy RICCICLIAMO aims at recycling those wastes to produce different added-value products for diversified human applications. In this work we specifically focused on the extraction of native collagen and its use for the development of innovative biomaterials to be used for regenerative medicine applications. GAG-decorated fibrillar collagen was obtained from part of the waste i.e. the peristomial membrane, through optimized protocols and subsequently used for the production of thin mesh-like films or 3D porous scaffold. Different structural, mechanical, in vitro and preliminary in vivo testing highlighted the promising efficacy of these biomaterials for biomedical applications. Additionally, we recently implemented these collagen-based biomaterials with bioactive molecules, namely potent antioxidant pigments, extracted from the remaining part of sea urchin waste. This allowed us to recycle 100% of the waste while improving the biofunctionality of the biomaterial toward regenerative medicine applications. Future research will be addressed to further improve the biotechnological potential of the sea urchin collagen/pigments toward the development of customized devices (including 3D bioprinting).